Encounter with a wildlife officer

[Upland Hunter]

I hunted big game in 3 states this year, small game in 4 states and fished in 3 states. I had all of the correct licenses, tags and stamps required and I played by the rules. I resent the implication that out of staters do most of the poaching in Kansas. No doubt some from other states break the rules but I'll bet that by far most of the poaching is done by locals.

 

[Thrasher]

Having lived in several different places around the country, I would have to say that the majority of poaching is done by locals. Most of us know places where it would be possible to take an illegal animal and have a pretty good chance of getting away with it. I am sure that out-of-state hunters do poach, and that many of them get caught since they don't know the lay of the land. Just my thoughts.

 

[kansasbrittany]

Having lived in several different places around the country, I would have to say that the majority of poaching is done by locals. Most of us know places where it would be possible to take an illegal animal and have a pretty good chance of getting away with it. I am sure that out-of-state hunters do poach, and that many of them get caught since they don't know the lay of the land. Just my thoughts.

I agree. I've known some locals who bragged constantly about getting away with it. The only way you're going to catch these guys is to follow them everywhere they go for days on end, without them knowing you're following them. I won't even describe their methods here b/c I don't want to give anyone any new ideas Either way, these guys shoot deer pretty much all year long and I've never heard of any of them getting caught. I can tell you they've been reported though

 

[Kismet]

Have seen, or heard of, poachers from both out of state and local with about equal frequency.

There used to be a family not too far away who had a family tradition of a few too many beers, a 4x4 pickup, and night time drives through their property. This was, apparently, a generational thing. They were not poor folks hunting for meat. When caught, they'd pay the fines, and the next year go out and do the same thing.

On the other hand, I've noted that there's a fair amount of publicity for those folks...and the specific case I remember was Wisconsin Folks...trophy poaching for customers. They were caught either in Kansas or Oklahoma, as I recall, and had been doing it for years.

Another bunch, over by the Mississippi, were arrested with ?hundreds? of ducks, also Wisconsin folks.

And the massively over-limit pan fishing rumors along the Mississippi are seemingly constant.

Since I don't "get it," the whole deal is kind of bewildering to me, but seems like the type of folks who will do this, will do this regardless of what state they inhabit. Whether it is avarice, financial gain, or just idiocy...the distribution seems wide-spread.

But then, I kinda like rules. Helps understand what I might expect from other people with guns, and gives some consistency for my own plans.


Once again...dunno.

 

[dead pheasants forever]

In every state I've lived in the locals always blame the out-of-staters for all poaching and troublemaking, real or perceived. Heck, they're easy targets who can't defend themselves. Here in Colorado, the out-of-staters always get blamed for bad elk hunting etiquette, shooting at anything that moves, etc. I see plenty of Kansas plates in elk camps in the mountains. So every state thinks its hunters are the only law-abiding sportsmen and all the hunters in the other 49 states are lawbreaking barbarians. Maybe Kansas is the only state that's got it right, but I doubt it. There are bad apples in every bunch.